About

I made my first grand tour of Europe in 1971.  Six weeks circuit of western Europe with my Eurail Pass at a time when you could do Europe on $10 a day.  I never spent more than two nights in any one location, so I had just a cursory glance of each city where I stopped.  More than halfway through my trip I traveled by train from Venice to Vienna.  En route I found myself gaping out the window at the most beautiful landscape I had ever seen.  I would learn later that this was the area of Italy dominated by the Dolomites, stark white mountains surrounded by lush green valleys.  I made a promise to myself that if I ever came that way again I would get off the train.  Fast forward to 2013.  I am no longer the naive 23-year old.  I will be 65 when I revisit this area this summer making a week long hike through the Dolomites, the Trentino and Alto Adige regions of northern Italy.  So close to the Austrian border that German is more commonly spoken than Italian.  Funny. It has taken me 42 years to make good on that promise and I plan to relish every second of my journey.